Kazakhs Cancel Proposal to Rename Riot Town on Lack of Support

By Nariman Gizitdinov -
Dec 10, 2012

A plan to rename the Kazakh town of
Zhanaozen, where a strike by oil workers led to a deadly riot
last year, was canceled because of a lack of support.

“This is a matter of time and must be resolved on the
national level,” Serikbai Turymov, Zhanaozen’s mayor, said
today in a statement on the Mangistau regional administration’s
website. The proposal to change the town’s name to Beket Ata was
made in October, according to the statement.

Police used armed force to suppress unrest in Zhanaozen
last year after a strike over wages by employees of state-
controlled KazMunaiGas EP sparked a riot during Dec. 16
Independence Day celebrations. President Nursultan Nazarbayev,
in power since 1989, replaced top state officials and the head
of the state oil company following the violence.

Prosecutors said in January that the unrest was prompted by
“years of budget-money embezzlement” by local officials and
oil-company executives. A Kazakh court issued sentences of three
to seven years for those who took part in the unrest, Novosti-
Kazakhstan reported June 4.